Tory peer apologises over poor ‘breeding’ sneer

Days after Lord Young resigned as David Cameron's enterprise adviser for telling recession-hit Britain "you've never had it so good" another Tory peer has been forced to aplogise after putting his foot in it.

This time it was former Conservative MP Howard Flight, who was only elevated to the peerage last week. The former MP for Arundel and South Downs was talking to the Evening Standard about the government's decision to axe child benefit for higher rate tax payers when he said: "We're going to have a system where the middle classes are discouraged from breeding because it's jolly expensive.

"But for those on benefits, there is every incentive. Well, that's not very sensible."

The Tory party was quick to distance itself from the new Lord Flight's comment, which not only appears to sneer at the lower classes but also criticises government policy. "Clearly we do not agree with those remarks," said a spokeswoman, who pointed out that Flight, who has yet to even take his seat in the Lords, is not a member of the government.

Flight quickly apologised but the gaffe was seized upon by Labour who demanded that the Prime Minister should also express his regret over the "shameful" comment.

But David Cameron's definition of what constitutes an offensive remark could be open to debate after he regaled journalists with a joke - albeit quite funny - which cast the Speaker John Bercow as a dwarf.

By way of background, junior health minister Simon Burns was forced to apologise in the summer when he was overheard calling Bercow, who is a Tory MP and 5ft 6in, a "sanctimonious, stupid dwarf" after clashing with him in the Commons.

Cameron's anecdote involved a minor car crash in the Commons car park between Burns's vehicle and Bercow's. The Prime Minister told how the dimunitive Speaker arrived at the scene and told Burns: "I'm not happy."

Burns apparently replied with the immortal line: "Well, which one are you, then?" ·